Ruben Zimmermann, «Nuptial Imagery in the Revelation of John», Vol. 84 (2003) 153-183
In this article is argued that the nuptial imagery of the Book of Revelation is not limited to chapters 19 and 21 but rather runs throughout the book. While the imagery is certainly most pronounced in the final part of the book, it also appears in the letters to the churches (bridal wreath in Rev 2,10; 3,11), in the scene depicting the 144,000 as virgins (Rev 14,4-5), and is encountered again in Rev 18,23 (silencing of the voice of bridegroom and bride) and Rev 22,17 (summons of the bride) at the end of the book. Thus the wedding metaphors can be seen as one of the structural patterns of Revelation as a whole directly in contrast to the metaphors of fornication.
Enoch and a certain line of tradition, should be protologically and eschatologically evened out, the sexual dimension in Rev is spiritualized and is thus functionalized religiously17. Thus for Rev 14,4, virginity can not be equated with asexuality. Going further, however, it could be observed that the mythos of the fallen angels in intertestamental scriptures is employed above all for the metaphorical treatment of the problem of mixed marriage (compare Jub). Inadmissible sexual association, whether between angels and humans or between Jews and non-Jews, thus had to be rejected. As, previously in Rev 2,14.20, "fornication and food sacrificed to idols" incorporates a classical formulation from the ‘letter of the apostles’ (Acts 15,20.29 and 21,25)18, this theme could also have been taken up in Rev 14,4 and this time could be associated with a metaphoric expression from the mythos of the fallen angels. The further context also brings the talk of "virginity" into the scope the wedding. On one hand, "virginity" and "immaculateness" are the most basic elements of a bride in early Judaic time19. On the other hand, the motif of redemption is associated with the wedding. In this way, marital contracts from Muraba’at or from the Babatha Archive20 as well as rabbinical texts21 speak explicitly of the obligation to ransom a wife, should she be taken prisoner. Further, the reference to the 144,000 as dou=loi (Rev 7,3) leads to the assumption that this alludes to the custom, normal in Hellenistic times, of the purchase of a female slave for the purpose of